Eq5 mount why so seemingly difficult to setup?

[Alan64]

 

[irandar]

Hi folks. I am a beginner and am interested in the question of leveling. It seems pretty clear from these posts that leveling for an eq mount is not necessary. Think of someone viewing at say 65 deg latitude in the north. Likely his scope only goes to 60 deg. Question: Is it a good solution for him to tilt his mount about 10 deg by adjusting shortening one tripod leg? He would have to make sure of the stability before aligning with the north pole. Would any other type of alignment with a goto be affected by this tilting? Thanks all for your opinions and wisdom. 

[Carbon Brush]

Excellent advice from the earlier posts.

A potential problem using any tripod a long way from a level top is weight distribution on the legs.
Suppose you have the north leg extended and the mount latitude reduced to compensate.
Now the north leg carries little weight and the rest obviously transfers to the other legs, that are not very far away from under the mount.
In other words, in extreme there is a risk of reduced stability. Try kicking the north leg!
As I am at 53degN I have never had to look at the practicalities of mounts at extreme angles.

If you have to assemble the tripod and mount every time out, a level top gives a good starting point to reduce the faff of other adjustments.

Not discussed in this thread (unless I missed it) is the question of whether you observe in the same location most times.
If so, can you mark the ground for the tripod legs? Inverted small plant pots in the lawn. Spray paint paving slabs. Drill small locating holes in paving, etc.
Doing this ensures you have a good 'pointing north' for your tripod without adjustment - every time out.
Can you store the mount fastened to the tripod, so you don't assemble/adjust every time out?
If you can do the above, you just walk out and place the mount/tripod and you are ready to go.
Assuming of course you have at some point sorted polar alignment🤨

Having said all this. For purely visual use. Level-ish and north-ish are good enough.
The benefit of the EQ mount is you only twiddle one knob to follow an object.
If polar alignment is a bit off, you need to use both knobs.

HTH, David.

[Ouroboros]

Maybe someone said this already but on the subject of levelling …. yes, it’s not necessary. But if you’re setting up at different sites, or changing the leg length perhaps, it is useful to level at least approximately because it will mean the altitude setting will be about right and Polaris should be easier to find in the polar scope.